Putting Together The Best Memories Of 2015, That’s How I Cope With New Year Blues

I don’t know how they do it – celebrating, joyously bidding farewell to the year just passed after the clock strikes twelve, with great fanfare and pomp. I wish I could be that happy about the new year too.

For the first 2 weeks of 2016 – I hope I didn’t show it too much – but inside I was feeling incredibly dull, uninspired, bored.

I’ve been through 31 new years, but the transition into this year felt especially depressing. While many indulge in retrospection and prepare in advance their new year’s resolutions, I ruminated on 2015 and then felt like I didn’t achieve much. Like I wasted a whole year of my life achieving nothing. It was just a general feel of dread, lack of confidence, self-criticism, and probably exhaustion from a 365-day run.

To get out of the slump, I forced myself to behave positively, by doing things that make me happy, and you know what they say about doing the opposite of what you feel like doing? IT’S TRUE.

All I wanted to do was lie in bed and mull at how boring I felt my life was, but I made myself do things that would make me happy, keep my mind running, my hands moving. So I cooked, baked, went grocery shopping, bought kitchen ware. LOL. My friends have commented that ever since I got moved into my new home I have become very domesticated. I guess that’s how owning a house changes you.

I started moving forward with tiny little steps. Moving forward when you’re not feeling motivated helps you push through your fears, get out of your comfort zone, and win the mental battles you have with yourself.

Some people make resolutions to spur them on in the new year, I think that alone exhausts me, so instead I shall look back on the happy memories of 2015, which I hope will motivate me to create even better ones in 2016! ^_^*

A Place We Call Our Own

Finally, we moved and settled into our own home! It’s such a wonderful feeling to have your own home, and a dream come true to have my own room which is a study, studio, walk-in wardrobe, beauty arena, all in one.

I had one chance to take this set of photos for Scholl Pedi Foot File. The next day, Mr Mode’s built-in wardrobe went up.

I realized I love hosting parties at my house. As much as possible, I prefer to cook for my guests because it gives me an opportunity to try out dishes that can feed more people, otherwise it’s just Mr Mode and me on most days.

Here are some Dayre posts with pictures of our new home and hosting parties!

Cooking & Baking

I’ve always been interested in cooking and baking, but never had to chance to really cook at my parents’ or in-laws’ coz… you know, it’s ultimately not my kitchen and I don’t want to go around messing up other people’s systems.

Now that I am the mistress to the house and chef (a term used very loosely lol) to my own kitchen, I spend long, long, long hours in there trying new recipes, failing, succeeding, experimenting. There’s so much science to it, and I love reading up on techniques and tricks. It feels very much like how I would spend countless hours reading up on makeup tips and practising when I first got into this beauty industry. Absolutely LOVE embarking on this new journey.

Yong Peng

Mr Mode and I held our ‘second wedding’ in Yong Peng, Malaysia as most of his maternal relatives reside there. It was nice meeting his extended family and staying overnight at his grandfather’s kampung.

Penang

Made a trip to Penang with friends and had an amazing time! We covered so many fun activities in just 4 days! Here’s a short summary from Dayre: Scammed (lol the title isn’t what the main post is about)

I’ll put up a full post on our Penang trip soon!

Bangkok

Early in the year Mr Mode and I went to Bangkok and visited this amazing place called Talat Rod Fai where we were entranced by the sheer amount of vintage ware sold at the village. We brought home some beautiful pieces and hope to revisit one day.

A few months later, I was back at Bangkok again with friends. Where better to train in Muay Thai than in the country it originated? So we signed up and wow, coupled with the heat and non-stop training, it sure did feel more intensive than my classes in Singapore.

We caught a live match at Rajadamnern Stadium too, definitely an eye-opening experience to see the sweat and blood (there wasn’t much, really) flying in real life. I would recommend anyone to catch at least one live Muay Thai match in your life! 😀

Later on, I applied my techniques to produce a martial arts comic. Hahaha!

Phuket

2015 was a busy year for Mr Mode and I – with all the overseeing of renovation work, packing, moving, I’m surprised we managed to squeeze in another short vacation to Phuket. We didn’t do much, it was really a chillax holiday to rest and rewind. It was a nice change of environment for me to take some beautiful pictures for reviews on Curel BB Cream and Uriage Thermal Water.

But something unforgettable did happen, something I will remind him for the rest of our lives. My dear husband managed to trigger the fire alarm in our suite. LOLLL

1st Anniversary

Yay we survived our first year! Hohoho. To that I dedicated a post to him, in which I shared how and where we met in our younger years, written from the perspective of his object of interest. Lol.

My Skin

After fighting a losing battle for more than 2 years, my skin is finally at ease again. It is definitely not perfect, I still have bumps and the occasional pus-filled pimple, but hey, at least now it’s OCCASIONAL, unlike those times where I had sometimes large, sometimes plenty, sometimes large and plenty of red, pus-filled pimples, or clogged bumps. I am currently seeing my 4th skin doctor and will write another post on my skin journey soon.

Makeup Workshop

I love makeup and anything beauty-related, and find it fun to share what I know with readers and friends, but never had any inclination to conduct an ‘official’ makeup workshop despite countless requests.

A friend organized a party and volunteered me to hold a makeup workshop for them. Haha. Initially I was like ‘whaattt??’ then thought ‘okie, sounds fun!’ Since I have my own place, I thought why not!

Everyone was exhausted after the workshop, yet they wanted more. Lol. I think I crammed in too much information. After conducting the workshop I have newfound respect for all makeup lecturers out there. I talked, demonstrated, went around helping, correcting. It was all SO TIRING! And I only had 6 students. Imagine having a class of 20.

Eyeliner Tutorial

I went back to basics and made a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw the perfect eyeliner wing. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, so I’m glad I managed to accomplish that in 2015.

Passing of Mr Lee Kwan Yew & Singapore’s 50th Birthday

“At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore.

What have I given up? My life.”

– a quote from Mr Lee in 2011.

Singapore’s founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away in September 2015. Devoting his whole life to Singapore, he used his tremendous foresight to transform Singapore from a Third World to a First World country.

I shall not write much about it here coz I just went back to read my 2 posts dedicated to him and I teared from reading my own writing.

Of course his death is not a celebrated piece of news, but his passing away and the way it brought people together has significantly enhanced the sense of nationhood in Singapore.

2015 was also Singapore’s 50th birthday. Ah Gong would have been 92 if he had waited a few more months to celebrate the nation’s birthday with us. =’(

Being Loved

In September 2015, I lived through one of the darkest – if not THE darkest – periods of my life. Somebody took my content completely out of context, republished it in a way to portray a devilish version of my story to destroy me.

I am quite done trying to explain to people who only read the twisted version that what they read wasn’t true, because if a person is bent on believing what the media says and already has formed a negative impression of me, what I do or say is useless.

But hey, I don’t deny I screwed up in some way. I made a mistake, atoned for it, and from now on all I want to do is pick up the pieces and leave the bad memories behind.

What I did learn and gain from this episode is knowing who my true friends (both friends in real life and online readers-friends) are, and that they are the only people who matter to me. And if not for the sake of my own, but for my family and friends, I should regain courage and confidence to live on and lead a happy life.